American Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday spoke to the premiers of the
Czech Republic and Hungary about developments in Ukraine, assuring them of
the United States’ commitment to collective defense under NATO’s
Article 5, which stipulates that an attack against one member of the
alliance is an attack against all. The Czech News Agency reported that Mr
Biden spoke for 45 minutes over the phone with Czech Prime Minister
Bohuslav Sobotka, discussing new sanctions against Russia for failing to
withdraw troops on Ukraine’s border and for failing to de-escalate
tension in the area as agreed in talks in Geneva. The two also discussed
the situation of OSCE observers - including a Czech national - being held
captive by pro-Russian separatists. The Czech Foreign and Defence
Ministries are working with partners to try and secure the observers’
release. The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999; Article 5 was first
invoked in 2001 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the United States.

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Around 700 village pubs are reported to have closed down in connection with
the introduction of a law on electronic cash registers at the start of
December, the ctk news agency reports citing the results of a survey among
the country’s 6,200 towns and cities. The pubs closing down generally
offer beer, but not food, and serve as social hubs in small villages. The
mayors of many small villages say they fear for the fate of small mixed
shops which are often the only source of groceries for the locals. The
introduction of electronic cash registers was the finance minister’s
flagship project to curb tax evasion.

Employees of the Dutch retailer Ahold, which owns the Albert supermarket
chain in the Czech Republic, have won a battle for higher wages. Ahold
representatives agreed to a trade unions demand for a one-off 1,000 crown
bonus in 2016 and an 8.5 percent wage increase in 2017. According to trade
unions the average monthly wage of Albert employees is 12,500 crowns, Ahold
claims it is 3,000 crowns higher. The wage dispute had dragged for some
time and Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka recently intervened on the
behalf of Czech employees. Ahold employs some 17,000 people in the Czech
Republic.

The Czech Education Ministry has asked the Czech Football Association to
change the logo on the jerseys of the national team’s players. The
national football team selected the two-tailed Czech lion, which appears on
the country’s state emblem, for its logo, but according to the law on
state symbols the team should by right have chosen either the state flag,
the name of the country or the whole emblem which apart from the lion also
depicts a crowned eagle. The national team is vehemently against the idea
of changing the logo, saying it is a protected trademark.

The Czech Republic and Iran are seeking ways to further increase their
growing trade turnover. Following a meeting with the visiting Iranian
Economy Minister Ali Tayebnia, Czech Industry and Trade Minister Jan Mladek
said he would like to see bilateral trade increase tenfold in the near
future. Czech exports to Iran increased by 46 percent in the first nine
months of this year and bilateral trade is expected to get a new impetus
with the signing of an agreement on protection of investments between the
two countries scheduled to take place early next year. The Czech Republic
has said it is ready to support Iran’s membership in the World Trade
Organization.

The lower house of Parliament has approved a bill that should introduce a
broad ban on smoking in pubs and restaurants. The government-proposed
legislation was defended by the newly appointed Health Minister Miloslav
Ludvik who said it was a vital step in protecting public health and
particularly that of the young generation which frequently topped the
European ladder in tobacco and alcohol abuse. The draft law caused heated
controversy in the lower house and there were numerous efforts to modify
the ban, such as a rejection of the proposed amendment that would ban
smoking in street cafes or cars with child passengers. The draft
legislation now goes to the Senate. If it wins approval there and is signed
by the president it should come into force in May of next year.

Consumer prices in November increased by 0.3 percent compared to the
previous month, the Czech Statistics Office reported on Friday. This
development was primarily due to a rise in the prices of food and
non-alcoholic beverages. The year-on-year growth in consumer prices
amounted to 1.5 percent, i.e. 0.7 percentage points up on October and the
most since June 2013. Analysts ascribe the higher than expected growth to
the introduction of the law on electronic cash registers ahead of which
many entrepreneurs increased prices to make up for the extra expenditures.
Analysts predict that inflation may thus reach the Czech National Bank’s
target of 2 percent in the first months of 2017.

British singer-songwriter Sting will be the main star of Prague’s
Metronome festival, which will take place in the Czech capital in June, the
festival's organiser Roman Helcl told the Czech News Agency on Friday.
The former frontman of the rock band Police will perform with his
three-member band, including guitarist Dominic Miller. Tickets go on sale
on December 12.

The last round of matches in the Europa League group stage brought mixed
results for the three Czech clubs in the competition. Sparta Prague will
progress out of the group stage despite losing against Inter Milan 1:2 on
Thursday night. Sparta are on 12 points in their group, followed by Hapoel
Beer-Sheva and Southampton. Liberec failed to secure a spot in the next
stage after it went down 0:2 against PAOK Thessaloniki, while Viktoria
Plzeň ends the Europa League competition with a symbolic 3:2 win against
Austria Vienna.

Miroslav Sklenář is set to replace Jiří Forejt in the post of the head
of protocol at Prague Castle, the president’s spokesman Jiří Ovčáček
told the Czech News Agency on Thursday. Mr Forejt stepped down on Monday
after the release of incriminating material which allegedly showed him
snorting an illicit substance, half naked and in dubious company. Miroslav
Sklenář has already worked as head of protocol, first under Václav Havel
and subsequently under Václav Klaus between the years 2014 and 2015. Up
till now, Mr. Sklenář has been employed by the China Energy Company
Limited, a major foreign investor in the Czech Republic.